ELF style pedal car

[Hugh]

An enclosed pedal car in the style of the ELF would be nice. Where you sit upright on a bench style seat and the pedals are similar in position to a DF bike. By that I mean down and a bit in front of the seat. And made just long enough to have room for a passenger. The gearing would be low enough to make pedalling somehat easy and in my case a front drive electric assist motor would be added as well. A top speed of say 16 kph would be enough, It could be nice liesurely way to get around, pick up groceries, etc.

 

[Radical Brad]

Get some parts and start building!
Brad

 

[Hugh]

I,ve got the main steel tube but need to think about the final shape first.

 

[mattycaterjunes]

i'd love to build one of these, but i feel like it ought to be a tandem! my partner and i live just far enough away from restaurants that it's inconvenient to bike there (and dangerous due to traffic) but silly to drive. when we do bike it's hard to have a nice conversation unless we're biking recklessly close to each other. i've been thinking about using plywood stitch-n-glue boatbuilding techniques to make an elf-style velomobile shell to put over a recumbent tandem trike.
any thoughts about whether tadpole- or delta-style would be better? i feel like both front and rear suspension are key, but i have no idea how to simply implement front suspension on a tadpole style. could it be done like the tricruiser, but using mountain bike suspension forks in front? or would the side-loading be too much?

 

[Hugh]

I've now tried 2 different bodies on my tadpole trike, the Warrior from Brad's plans. Great trike but it does not lend itself very well to an enclosed body. So now I've built a variation of the lode runner delta trike using 4" wide tires. My opinion would be that the delta style lends itself way better to a elf style body.

 

[Radical Brad]

It does sound like the LodeRunner would be similar to what you want... higher seating, tough to break, easy to mount a body, power assist ready.

Brad

 

[mattycaterjunes]

i made a digital mockup yesterday of what i'm thinking. i used the viking body as a starting point. not sure if it's possible to find a rear suspension triangle small enough, or if the front would buckle without a cross brace, or also again if mountain bike suspension forks/wheels can withstand the side loading, but ¯\(ツ)/¯ it's a start at least

 

[mattycaterjunes]

i made a digital mockup yesterday of what i'm thinking. i used the viking body as a starting point. not sure if it's possible to find a rear suspension triangle small enough, or if the front would buckle without a cross brace, or also again if mountain bike suspension forks/wheels can withstand the side loading, but ¯\(ツ)/¯ it's a start at least

here's a pic without the shell. looking at it again i'm pretty sure there's knee-room for a cross brace/bar across the top, which would also give a good place to mount a steering column. i think it would be possible to do under-seat steering if you ran tubes down inside the vertical pieces (pictured as the stubs sticking out at the top and bottom), but that might be a unnecessary over-engineering of the system.

 

[DannyC]

Sorry, I don't understand the reason for the "U" frame for attaching standard MTB forks. IMHO that's just asking for trouble.
Put kingpins on the lower beam - much better.
Good luck with your build.

 

[mattycaterjunes]

Sorry, I don't understand the reason for the "U" frame for attaching standard MTB forks. IMHO that's just asking for trouble.
Put kingpins on the lower beam - much better.
Good luck with your build.

thanks! the goal is to add front suspension using off-the-shelf or easily scavenged parts, which as far as i know can't be accomplished with the traditional method of attaching kingpins to the lower beam. if there is a different way to simply add front suspension to a trike, i'd definitely be interested.

 

[DannyC]

thanks! the goal is to add front suspension using off-the-shelf or easily scavenged parts, which as far as i know can't be accomplished with the traditional method of attaching kingpins to the lower beam. if there is a different way to simply add front suspension to a trike, i'd definitely be interested.

Ahhhh, that's why. Nope, I don't know an easy way of adding front suspension. It is a tough job adding front suspension while keeping the steering true I think. Several of the commercial trikes have it. I am not a fan myself as I always feel the "brake-dive" is a bit unsettling; YMMV of course. Good Luck! I hope it turns out well for you.

 

[mattycaterjunes]

Ahhhh, that's why. Nope, I don't know an easy way of adding front suspension. It is a tough job adding front suspension while keeping the steering true I think. Several of the commercial trikes have it. I am not a fan myself as I always feel the "brake-dive" is a bit unsettling; YMMV of course. Good Luck! I hope it turns out well for you.

good to know! do you know if it's possible to use a suspension fork on a delta-style trike?

 

[Hugh]

It should be possible but avoid cheaper suspension forks, you would not want them to break while riding.

 

[stormbird]

Go for a delta and fat tires , the design shown will have the turning circle of a oil tanker not good when mixing with unsympathetic traffic.

Most delta trikes can turn in there own length definitely a bonus in an urban environment.

Go simple & light to start with ? a built and rid-able simple trike beats a over technological endowed half finished heavy monster

Don't forget if you can't find any examples of what you are trying to build with Google it MAY be because it is a bad idea !

 

[aluminumwelder]

https://www.facebook.com/evovelo/
this company has been saying for 2 years they will release their design as open source, similar to elf, better IMHO.
Or you can always build a Kyoto AZ, and try to enclose it?